DBS&A News

Dr. Stephens to Present on Early Innovations in Engineering and Hydrology

08/08/2017

2:28 PM

The Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) Albuquerque monthly meeting will feature a presentation by DBS&A Founder and Principal Hydrogeologist, Daniel B. Stephens, Ph.D., C.Hg., P.G., on August 9th, 2017, on “Early Innovations in Engineering and Hydrology: Practical Applications of Land Drainage.”

Engineering techniques to drain lands for agriculture played a critical role in England's wars in the late 1700s and early 1800s, and in developing the field of hydrology. The success of the individuals who were developing these techniques (referred to as land drainers) depended not so much on their education as on their instincts about hydraulics, soils, geology, and groundwater. Recent research shows that long before textbooks were developed and more than a half century before the pioneering work of Henry Darcy, the land drainers understood the hydrologic cycle, the origin of springs, and the elements of confined and unconfined aquifers. They used this understanding to engineer depressuring wells and drains tailored to the unique conditions of the water logged lands. The groundwater engineering principles developed intuitively and empirically by the land drainers also extended to generating water power for grist mills and to dewatering mines. William 'Strata' Smith, the famous geologist written about by Simon Winchester in the book The Map that Changed the World, is at the heart of this story, along with John Farey (the mathematician for whom Farey numbers are named). It is through the work of the land drainers that the first known classes in hydrology were developed nearly 200 years ago. Review of historic correspondence and publications reveals how important receiving credit for the first discovery of these principles was in those days, much like among researchers today.

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